After a six-hour ride and one train change, they finally made it to their destination: sunny, beautiful, Okinawa. Suzu breathed in the fresh air, finally feeling a little bit of his stress melt away. It was so refreshing being away from the city and by the ocean. When was the last time he had actually been on a vacation? Definitely back when he and Jiro were still dating. And even then it hadn’t felt this refreshing.

Ugh. He had to stop thinking about him! He had a much better companion for this trip, and he was definitely going to enjoy it more. Or he had better, given what he’d paid.

‘Ok. Enough of this kind of spiraling,’ he thought to himself.

He was here. Saku was here with him. It was going to be fine.

Smiling, he looked over to Saku and was completely surprised by the other’s less-than-pleased expression.

“You didn’t mention this was, like, on the beach,” Saku said, his voice flat, as he looked around the area with distaste.

“Well, I kind of figured it would be pretty obvious when I said the destination was Okinawa.”

He swore he saw Saku shudder.

He was even surer when Saku turned to him, a very serious look on his face.

“I don’t care how much you offer to pay; I will not go in or anywhere near the water.”

Suzu was very confused by this. Saku was acting way too serious for this to be a joke.

“Um, that’s fine. I mean the wedding is on the beach, but we won’t be right up to the water… is that ok?”

Saku closed his eyes, taking a breath, “It’s… manageable. But if you try to make me—”

“Don’t worry, I won’t force you in the water or anything, ok?”

“Good. I had a client who tried to and well, he ended up with scratches on his face. I’m not strong, but I’m scrappy.”

“Noted…” Suzu said hesitantly.

Suzu wasn’t sure what he should do or say, but he could tell Saku didn’t want to talk about it any further and was very uncomfortable. It was probably best if they just get to the hotel. 

He hailed a cab, loading Saku’s luggage once the car arrived. The cab ride was quiet, Suzu glanced over at Saku and saw that the other still looked perturbed. He was trying not to panic when after a few moments later, Saku sighed and leaned against Suzu.

“I’m sorry about that, earlier. I just, really, really don’t like the water—especially big bodies of it—and I don’t go near it.”

“One of your rules?”

Saku smiled and nodded, “Yeah. And just because I broke the name one, don’t expect this one to be broken as well.”

“As I said, I won’t force you to get near the ocean.”

The redhead rested his head on Suzu’s shoulder, getting very comfortable.

“Good, I appreciate it. One guy who found out about my phobia like, legit tried to push me into a pool. Thinking it was some cute joke.”

“Is he the one you scratched?”

“No, a different guy. This one caught me by surprise so after thrashing about in the water, someone helped me out, I stormed over to him and used my stiletto to show him what I thought about his little joke.”

Suzu winced a bit, “Ow. But he does sound horrible if he thought that would be funny.”

Saku moved closer, holding on to Suzu’s arm. Suzu wasn’t sure how to respond. He certainly didn’t dislike it but it was just so much after only knowing Saku for a few hours.

“U-Um, we’re not too far from the hotel…”

“Oh good, I want to change my outfit before I meet your friends,” Saku responded, making no move to sit up.

Suzu shifted nervously, though he was careful not to disturb Saku, just enough to maybe encourage the other to move. Saku still did not. But he did glance up.

“Suzu-kun. You need to get comfortable with me doing things like this. We’re in a relationship now, remember?”

“R-Right, sorry.”

Saku chuckled, “Don’t worry, I can take the lead until you’re completely comfortable.”

Suzu nodded but couldn’t shake his nervousness. Though, as they were getting closer to the hotel, his worries shifted from Saku being close to this whole affair. Pretending Saku was his boyfriend, introducing him to his best friend…

What if this didn’t work? What if Arata saw through this and tried to set him up anyway? What if Saku got tired of dealing with his well, everything?

He took a deep breath. He just needed to trust this was all going to work. It would. Somehow.